Hurt: A Bad Boy MMA Romantic Suspense Novel Read Online Free Page B

took out a gun and pointed it at me.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    With a few growls, Benito finished up. He grabbed the woman’s hair and pulled her away. He tucked himself away and helped the woman to her feet, all the while never taking the gun off me.
    “You need one?” he asked me.
    I looked at the woman. Her lipstick was smeared on her face. I thought about where her mouth had just been and what she had just swallowed.
    “No thanks,” I said.
    “You have to be backed up there,” Benito said. “Being in there that long. Pussy once in a while.”
    The woman approached and I declined again. “Not right now.”
    The woman froze.
    “Hey!” Benito yelled. “Felice! Get the fuck out of here!”
    The woman hurried to the door and left.
    I half wished she took me with her.
    I stared down Benito and the gun pointed at me. His lips were sealed tight. His head gently bobbed left to right, showing no emotion. He never showed emotion.
    He put the gun to my chest - right at my heart - and he pushed at me. I walked back to the door. I dropped the beer bottle to the floor. My hands were then at my sides, balled into fists. I was okay with taking shit on the inside, but not now. Not with freedom on my lips, tasting as sweet as that first breath when your between a woman’s legs.
    I didn’t wait a year to get out of jail for this shit.
    “You’re out,” Benito said.
    “I’m out.”
    “And here you are.”
    “Here I am.”
    “I got you out.”
    “I know. I appreciate that. You put me in there.”
    Benito’s nostrils flared. “You look like you want to hurt me, Noah.”
    “If you don’t get that fucking gun away from my chest in three seconds, I’m going to hurt you. If you’re going to shoot me, just do it.”
    Benito nodded. He moved the gun from me. “I’m just fucking around, Noah. Jail time put a little hair on your chest, huh?”
    Before I could answer, Benito grabbed my face and pulled me down for a kiss. He fat lips smacked my cheeks one at a time. He then nodded at me.
    “You did good,” Benito said. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am the way it happened.”
    “I think we have a lot to catch up on,” I said.
    The door opened behind me and hit me in the ass.
    “Sorry, Noah,” Dante said as he entered. He had a bottle of whiskey in his hand.
    “Drink time,” Benito said. “One shot for each month of serving in that hell hole.”
    The door shut again and Dante stayed in the room.
    I took a seat and Benito served the first shot. It mixed well with the drinks I already had at the bar.
    “Someone set me up,” Benito said. “Family bullshit stuff, Noah. Now, we had a plan in place and you were popped.”
    My own fault. I didn’t run fast enough. I was too busy looking for a woman I had fucked into the bathroom.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m not angry about it.”
    “Good. I’m proud of you, Noah. You gave up nothing. You took your hit and I made sure to take care of you. Not to mention you won that fight and got that annoying piece of shit, Jack, off my back.”
    I laughed.
    “We’re still building,” Dante said. “Slowly adding fights again. Working our way from the outside resources.”
    “Meaning?” I asked.
    “Running the streets.”
    I nodded.
    That made sense. Benito had pulled Dante off the streets. The guy knew everyone and everything. From drugs to guns to fights, Dante knew how to work the street. He commanded respect and earned it at the same time. He was damn good on the street and it was pretty obvious why Benito still had power and why Dante was in a suit.
    “I want out of that,” Benito said. “Too bloody. The return is nice, but that’s not what my family is about.”
    “So what’s the plan?”
    “Collections,” Dante said. He adjusted his tie. “That’s where the big money is waiting.”
    “Collections?” I asked.
    “Debts,” Benito said. “Money just floating out there. What’s owed to me. I’ve waited for someone like Dante to step forward and take charge